Phil Campbell prevails in first round playoff series between top 10 teams

After dropping the opening game of its first round playoff series Thursday afternoon, the No. 6-ranked Phil Campbell High School varsity baseball team scored 26 combined runs in games two and three to oust No. 9 Geraldine from the Class 3A postseason.

In game one against the Bulldogs on Thursday, the Bobcats, despite solid pitching performances from Jack Owens and Shooter Motes, were hurt by errors and unable to take advantage of runners in scoring position, ultimately losing the series opener 4-1.

“(The PCHS players’) minds were right, but we just didn’t get the hits when we needed them,” Phil Campbell head coach Griffin Harris told the Franklin Free Press. “I know we left the bases loaded at least twice and maybe even a third time, so we left a ton of runners on and were just never able to get that big hit.

“We had a few errors there where (Geraldine) was able to score a few runs, so we just shot ourselves in the foot; we just needed to get back to our game,” Harris added. “But to our guys’ credit, they never felt like Geraldine was better than us. We always felt like we could come back and compete with them. We knew if we got back to playing good, solid baseball then we’d have a chance to be there in the end.”

The Bobcats’ confidence in themselves paid off in the end as PCHS came back not only to take the next two do-or-die games but to do so in pretty convincing fashion. The Area 14 champs followed up the game one loss by run-ruling the Bulldogs 13-3 in five innings in game two. And then in game three, they put together two five-run innings to eventually win 13-7.

“I was happy with their ability to bounce back and not be down or count ourselves out after dropping the first game,” Harris said of his players. “They believed and when we went to talk after the first game they were like, ‘Coach, we’ve got this. They’re not better than us.’”

And they weren’t.

In the second game played Thursday night, the Bobcats put up crooked numbers in the first, second, third, and fifth innings.

Phil Campbell opened its account with two runs in the top of the first via back-to-back RBI singles by Hagen Raper and Isaac Duboise, then followed it up with two more runs in the second on two more RBI singles by Duboise and Motes—that made it 4-2.

The Bobcats’ biggest offensive production came in the next inning, the top of the third, when they pushed six more runs past the Bulldogs to make it 10-2. A few walks and an error allowed PCHS to score three runs before Cody Sneed’s bases-clearing double drove in Motes, Owens and Raper.

Phil Campbell’s final three runs, scored in the fifth, were enough to give the team the necessary 10-run lead for the mercy rule. Duboise’s and Sage Morgan’s RBI singles accounted for two of those runs with the third coming off an RBI groundout by Reed Jackson.

Offensively, Duboise, Raper and Motes led the way for the Bobcats. Raper, who went 2-for-2 with two walks scored a game-high four runs, and Motes finished with three RBIs and two runs scored.

In addition to his three hits and three RBIs at the dish, Duboise also had a phenomenal game on the mound, earning the win after tossing all five innings and allowing just two earned runs off five hits.

It was more of the same from Phil Campbell when the series wrapped up on Friday afternoon. The Bobcats did commit a few errors in the field, but at the plate they were able to collect eight hits on their way to scoring 13 runs.

PCHS plated solo runs in the first two innings before opening up the game with five runs in the home half of the third. The Bobcats later rounded out the scoring with five more runs in the sixth—RBI hits by Bentley Morgan, Benford and Motes driving in four of those—as they took the final 13-7 lead.

Chandler Benford, who pitched a complete game, was credited with the win. While the junior allowed seven runs, only one of those was earned, and he ended the game with 10 strikeouts.

After the final game of the series, Harris said he was proud of his players for the way they “stepped up” against a very tough opponent.

“We knew the draw we had, and we knew coming in we were going to have to play well to win,” he said. “But our guys believe in themselves and they believe in each other.”

Up next for Phil Campbell is a Sweet 16 road series at Oakman, the runner-up from Area 10, which eliminated Area 9 champion Weaver in two games.

“Oakman is very well coached—Ryan Hall does a great job—and from the scores I’ve seen and what little scouting I’ve been able to do so far, it looks like they swing the bat pretty well,” Harris said of his team’s second round opposition. “It’s going to be another tough matchup so we’re going to have to play well right out of the gate.”

Phil Campbell and Oakman are scheduled to play games one and two of the series at 4:30 p.m. and 7 p.m. on Friday, May 1, with game three, if needed, to be played on Saturday.